Thursday, July 28, 2011

CALL FOR AN INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST AND SOLIDARITY WITH THE PRISON HUNGER STRIKERS

In support and respect for the courageous prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison and other prisons all around California, whose July 2011 hunger strike challenged the inhumane conditions of the Security Housing Units [“the SHU”] and inspired the support of people far and wide – we now call on people of conscience everywhere across the U.S. and beyond, to join in an International Day of Protest and Solidarity with the Prison Hunger Strikers on Monday, August 1, 2011.

The Hunger Strikers achieved real success: the conditions of systematic abuse and torture in the SHU – and widespread thru the prison system –were dragged into the light of day. Their original “five core demands” [attached] have now been acknowledged – although not yet met — by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), which promised to consider them. On Monday, August 1 many diverse people and organizations will publicly speak out and act in support of these demands. Prisoners must gain the human rights and civil rights demanded by their very humanity – and by ours outside the prison walls too, wherever we may be.

We insist there must be NO RETALIATION by the authorities against individual prisoners, groups of prisoners, prisoners’ family members or attorneys or other advocates, in the wake of the Hunger Strike. (And we will be paying attention.)

Let us show on August 1 that the prisoners do not stand alone, through our demonstrations, rallies, religious services, fasts, call-the-governor-days, art and music, taking to the airwaves thru talk show and other call-ins, and many other public, visual, and creative expressions.

Monday, July 25, 2011

The central committee (CC) meeting of the UCPN (Maoist) Monday passed party chairman Prachanda's aka Pushpa Kamal Dahal's political paper, which has made peace and constitution as the main agenda of the party -- apart from dividing organisational duties to key leaders.

Maoist spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma told reporters after the CC meeting that Dahal's paper was passed unanimously. The meeting, which was cancelled several times in the wake of internal rift, concluded today.

According to the proposal, senior vice chairman Mohan Baidya will head the Organisation department along with the disciplinary body while vice chairman Baburam Bhattarai will chair the parliamentary board and will be the prime minister candidate for the future government. Similarly, another vice chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha will lead the party's team in the current government with home portfolio.

Likewise, general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa has been given the responsibility to oversee the military commission.

The CC also gave a week's time to the office-bearers to distribute the responsibilities to other leaders.

Democracy and Class Struggle welcomes the redistribution of power within the UCPN ( Maoist) and the appointmant of Mohan Baidya aka Comrade Kiran has head of Party Organisation as well as the disciplinary body.

The Communists all over the world must join the emotion and indignation, but also and above all they must denounce the real leaders and instigators of these murders, the slaughters that are increasing in the world, the undeclared war of extermination that the world imperialist system fosters all over the world!

The instigators of the Nazi Christian Breivik Behring of Oslo, the fomenters, perpetrators and defenders of the mentality and behavior of the perpetrators of this barbaric slaughters and the like are the leaders of the world imperialist system, the international community of speculators, in particular the members of the three most important groups of this international community: the U.S. imperialist bourgeoisie, the Roman Catholic Church headed by the Vatican and the Pope who is its absolute monarch, the Zionist groups of Israel!

The world imperialist system has led humanity into a morass to which we have to put an end by establishing socialism starting from the imperialist countries. If we do not do it, we shall go through barbarism and destruction which quality will be equal to most primitive men’s actions and which amplitude will be equal to the means and knowledge that humanity has today.

Let’s put an end to the reign of barbarism and to the domination of speculators’ international community!

Let’s struggle to establish socialism starting from the imperialist countries!

Facing the dreadful slaughters of Oslo and of the island of Utoya we denounce the responsibilities of the leaders of the world imperialist system, in particular the U.S. imperialist bourgeoisie, the Roman Catholic Church and the Zionist groups in Israel. They are the three most influential groups of the leaders of the world imperialist system, the “international community” presided over by U.S. government and blessed by the Pope of Rome.

The slaughters of Oslo and of the island of Utoya are not manifestations of individual insanity. The author is not a fool: everything shows that indeed he is a person with mental capacity, by no means incapable of managing his social relations and the relations with the surrounding environment. Everything shows that he is an individual capable to make plans and to carry them out, to connect together the various aspects of reality, as indeed those aspects are connected and can be connected and how effectively they are connected by the leaders of the world imperialist system, the promoters of the “clash of civilizations” and of the global competition, the politicians and prelates who wanted and still want to require that Europe has to be Christian in the future and for eternity as it was in the past.

What made Behring Breivik of Oslo a murderer, so as what makes murderers many of his peers and people even younger than he who massacre in Afghanistan or in Palestine by acting directly on the ground or sitting at the console from which they guide bomb drones, are barbarian ideas, concepts, feelings and aspirations he did not invented and that are not his personal property. On the contrary they are professed and elaborated by the promoters of the reactionary mobilization of the masses and by the promoters of trials of fascism, who are thousands, who act even among us and perform their “heroic acts” against Roma camps, against marginalized people, against women, against immigrants, against homosexuals. These ideas, concepts and aspirations are not raving frenzies. They come from the social relations that the bourgeoisie and the clergy in general and the leaders of the world imperialist system impose on all humanity. They are one of the ways of reaction to the practical relations of dissolution of social solidarity, to the elimination of the rights the classes and the oppressed peoples conquered in the first wave of proletarian revolution promoted by the communist movement, to the relation of oppression and exploitation that the imperialist world system imposes on all humanity. They are an individual manifestation of the madness of the course the world imperialist system has given and imposes to humanity since when the momentum to the progress that the communist movement had given to all humanity exhausted.

The rightwinger Anders Behring Breivik responsible for the massacre and bombing in Norway appears to have ties with UK-based “counter-jihad movement” the English Defence League.

In online rants, mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik describes himself as a rightwing conservative opposed to “Eurabia”, the “Islamisation of Europe” and the erosion of Christian values.

In a post on Norwegian website document.no he describes his admiration for the English Defence League, his contacts with the group and aspiration to set up a Norwegian sister organisation:

Quote:
I strongly doubt that your theory is correct. The whole conflict between GDP and EDL started with a change of leadership in the EDL for a few months ago. They threw out the racist and denounced the BNP. They chose instead SIOE's ideological basis that is more or less mainstream view on the right side in Western Europe now (Vienna School of Thought).

Nick was very offended and began to demonize the EDL. Although they are now attacking each other as they compete not at all as these are two quite different fronts. 90% of all votes in the EDL continued GDP (Since this is the only alternative to multikulti in the UK) and 90% of GDP supports EDL regardless of what Nick had to think.

Second, Labour governs intelligence service. They had never in his life supported the EDL as these create a lot of positive attention for the cultural conservative movement in the UK.

I have on some occasions discussed with SIOE and EDL and recommended them to use conscious strategies.

The tactics of the EDL is now out to "entice" an overreaction from Jihad Youth / Extreme-Marxists something they have succeeded several times already. Over The reaction has been repeatedly shown on the news which has booster EDLs ranks high. This has also benefited GDP. WinWin for both.

But I must say I am very impressed with how quickly they have grown but this has to do with smart tactical choice by management.

EDL is an example and a Norwegian version is the only way to prevent Flash / SOS to harass Norwegian cultural conservatives from other fronts. Creating a Norwegian EDL should be No. 3 on the agenda after we have started up a cultural conservative newspaper with national distribution.

The agenda of the Norwegian cultural conservative movement over the next 5 years are therefore:

1. Newspaper with national distribution
2. Working for the control of several NGOs
3. Norwegian EDL

Democracy and Class Struggle says Anders Behring Breivik is writing about the EDL has if it was not racist or nazi, this is incorrect. Roberta Moore head of the EDL Zionist wing has announced recently that she does not wish to be a part of EDL any longer because of Nazi elements within it and has resigned.

The 32 year old blonde Norwegian man Anders Behring Breivik suspected of carrying out a bombing and shooting massacre in Norway posted on websites with Christian fundamentalist tendencies, according to a police official.

According to Norwegian TV2, Breivik had established right-wing credentials. Also, Expressen, a Swedish news site, said Breivik was an ultra nationalist, and had posted anti-Muslim writings on right-wing forums. According to UK's Daily Mail, police said the massacre was the work of a man with extreme right wing views who hated Muslims.

Friday, July 22, 2011

A terror group, Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or the Helpers of the Global Jihad, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, according to Will McCants, a terrorism analyst at C.N.A., a research institute that studies terrorism. The message said the attack was a response to Norwegian forces’ presence in Afghanistan and to unspecified insults to the Prophet Muhammad.

“We have warned since the Stockholm raid of more operations,” the group said, according to Mr. McCants’ translation, apparently referring to a bombing in Sweden in December 2010. “What you see is only the beginning, and there is more to come.” The claim could not be confirmed.

The guy arrested by the police at Utøya (Where the Labour Party Youth have their summer camp) was blonde and Caucasian.

Norwegian Police say it was most likely not to be international terrorism.

The CDCR has prematurely announced that the hunger strike is over and that the prisoners now have "a better understanding" of last week's "offer" to the hunger strikers at Pelican Bay. However, the prisoner-approved mediation team (which the hunger strike leaders have insisted participate in any negotiations) was not involved in this so-called resolution around the strike, and the CDCR has not announced what was agreed upon. Clearly the CDCR is more interested in improving their Public Relations image than addressing real issues of torture.

Support for the hunger strike is at a crucial tipping point. One thing is absolutely clear: the five core demands have not been met. Long-term solitary confinement is still being used as torture. Supporters everywhere must amplify the prisoners voices even more fiercely than before. The goal of supporting the hunger strike was not to make sure prisoners continue to starve, rather to support the prisoners in winning their demands to change conditions of imprisonment. This struggle is not over.

We urge everyone to continue to attend and organize events, continue to put pressure on media to cover this struggle, and continue to urge legislators to get involved in winning the hunger strikers 5 demands.
We will not accept the CDCR's word until we have direct confirmation from the hunger strike leaders, and will continue to support the prisoners in winning their demands, until they are won.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Today, at the notorious California super-maximum prison, Pelican Bay, hundreds of prisoners are on a hunger strike. As of July 1, 2011 a number of men ceased eating state meals in protest of horrendously long-term confinement, government repression, lack of programs and the hated gang affiliation rules.

According to California Prison Focus, the health of some the men are dangerously deteriorating. Some have ceased drinking, as well as eating and haven’t urinated in days. Some are threatened by renal failure, which can result in death.

Why? The demands of the strikers seem relatively tame, which gives us some insight into the level of repression. The five core demands are:

1. Individual instead of group responsibility.
2. Abolition of the “gang-debriefing” policy, which endangers both those who debrief and/or their families.
3. An end to long-term solitary confinement.
4. Adequate food, and
5. Constructive programs, such as art, phone privileges and the like.

A sub-demand is adequate natural sunlight – sunlight. There are few things more torturous than dying by starvation. These men are killing themselves potentially for fresh air and sunlight, and about a third of California prisoners, 11 out of 33 prisons, have joined them.

Senior Vice chairman Mohan Baidya Kiran of the Unified Maoists Party has asked Chairman Prachanda aka Pushpa Kamal Dahal of his own party to tender his resignation from the post of the leader of party’s parliamentary delegation.

A point blank demand.

Chairman Dahal in reply told Baidya in a blunt fashion that that he could be unseated only if majority of the Maoists leaders push him to minority.

First time the teacher and his disciple have come face to face.

The Dahal-Baidya verbal duel took place at the party’s steering committee meeting, July 10, 2011. The meeting had only lasted for around 20 minutes. But yet the impact must have been a heavy one.

“Not only as the leader of parliamentary delegation, I will also resign as the party chairman if you can prove majority in your favor and if my resignation is in favor of peace, constitution, revolution, country and people I will certainly quit the current post”, Dahal is quoted as saying by media.

Dahal’s inner pain could be sensed while saying so.

“Let us discuss the bottom-line to be adopted for peace and constitution”, Dahal said and added, “With this we can discuss on matters related with power sharing.”

Bhattarai, on the other hand, claimed that he will very much accept the post only if there was consensus in his favor but will not take part in the voting process.

Moderate Bhattarai.

According to Baidya’s power sharing model, Bhattarai should be elevated as party’s parliamentary delegation Chief and he himself be awarded as the party’s organizational head. In that eventually, if at all that takes a shape, Dahal will be constricted to a titular role in the party.

Dahal and ceremonial role? Forget it.

With Dahal refusing to tender his resignation and also who did not accept the power sharing model proposed by Baidya, the party has convened the central committee meeting, July 13, 2011.

“Whether or not Chairman Prachanda is in a minority, the issue will be appropriately decided by the central committee”, claims Barsaman Pun of Dahal panel.

As far as the question is who is going to lead the government is concerned, let it be clear that Chairman Prachanda will not lead the government, Pun told Annapurna Post.

Similarly, C.P. Gajurel of Baidya panel threatened that, “this time around too if our demands are not addressed by the central committee, we will once again submit our note of dissent.”

Registering note of dissent has become a regular phenomenon inside the Maoists.

“We will observe how Chairman Prachanda presents himself in the upcoming central committee meeting, his acts will eventually determine our future course of action”, declared Gajurel who is no less a hardliner than the declared hardliner-Mohan Baidya.

On the other hand, claims another Maoists leader Dina Nath Sharma, “Party chairman will hold several rounds of discussions with the party leadership much ahead of the CC meeting.

“He will try to bring party leaders into confidence”, so hopes Sharma.

“High-level consensus has already been reached to elevate Bhattarai ji as the country’s prime minister”, also claimed Dinanath and added, “The central committee meeting will ratify the decision in Bhattarai’s favor.”

Talking to the media in Chitwan district, another vice chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said that positive discussions have taken place in the party paraphernalia in favor of Babu Ram Bhattarai. “Our formal decision will favor Baburam ji.”

Haribol Gajurel of the Dahal panel tells Nayapatrika Daily that the newly found unity between Bhattarai and Baidya panel is an apolitical alliance.

Many believe it to be so but the alliance between two differing political poles remains intact.

He claims, “On ideological and political grounds they have been always at the opposite ends but they surprisingly have come to terms when it comes to sharing of the power.”

“Isn’t it an apolitical alliance”, he concludes.

In love and war, everything is possible and more so politics itself is defined as “art of the possible”, opine political observers.

But the substance is that Dahal is being cornered by his own long time associates. Must have some reason.

“The economic nature of racism is not simply an aside…Racism is a fundamental characteristic of monopoly capitalism,” George L. Jackson, 1971

Introduction

Many people believe that racism – indeed the very concept of race itself – develops automatically when groups of people with different complexions, hair, and body types are brought together. This is not so! Actually, the concept of race is barely 500 years old. The common people have been programmed into accepting “race” as a normal and natural thing, to prevent them from questioning, investigating, and challenging the ideas and roots of race and racism. Race and racism are inventions of a specific social class, and devised to serve a specific social purpose. The creators are the oppressor capitalist ruling class, and the purpose is to divide the laboring class that the capitalists exploit against themselves. This is because, if united, the workers pose the single greatest threat to the capitalist class monopoly over social wealth, power, and control. A dispassionate study will show that in every situation where race has arisen to become a sharp dividing social factor, the hands of the capitalists can be seen pulling the strings, and it is only they who benefit from the conflicts.

George Jackson clearly recognized this. He pointed out that while white racism. the dominant form of racism in Amerika, expresses itself as “…the morbid traditional fear of Blacks, Indians, Mexicans, [and] the desire to inflict pain on them when they began to compete in the industrial sectors. The resentment and the seedbed of fear is patterned into every modem capitalist society. It grows out of a sense of insecurity and insignificance that is inculcated into the workers by the conditions of life and work under capitalism. This sense of vulnerability is the breeding ground of racism. At the same time, the ruling class actively promotes racism against the Blacks of the lower classes. This programmed racism has always served to distract the huge numbers of people who subsist at just a slightly higher
level than those in a more debased condition (in the 1870′s the strikes frequently ended in anti-Chinese or anti-Black lynchings)…Racism has served always in the U.S. as a pressure release…”
The sole concern of the capitalist class is to secure and increase their profits and power. They do not care whom or what they damage or destroy to accomplish this, nor do they care what nationality or complexion the people are whom they exploit, only that they keep the exploited workers unable to unite and mobilize against their conditions of exploitation. Racism has been the capitalists’ most effective method of accomplishing this. Here is North Amerika, the game began in the late 1600′s.

The Creation of the White Race and Racism

The first laborers exploited in North Amerika under British colonialism consisted of Afrikan, European, and Indian slaves and indentured servants. The concept of ‘race’ did not exist then. The laborers were all equally oppressed and exploited of their wealth-producing labor by the capitalist plantation owners and thus saw each other as equals. They lived, labored, loved, suffered, bred, bled, escaped, and died together. They also repeatedly rebelled and revelled together. But because they lacked a unifying leadership and vision or control over resources, they were unable to come together en masse to wage a united revolt to overthrow the plantation elite and the British colonial government that served and backed the elite. This all changed in 1676 when Bacon’s Rebellion occurred.

The leader of the rebellion, Nathaniel Bacon, was a young plantation owner. He had left England to settle in the British colonies in 1673, and was appointed to the Council of British Colonial Governor William Berkeley. The colonial government’s principal concern (as with any capitalist government), was to maintain stability in the colonies while protecting and expanding the holdings and wealth of the ruling class. To achieve this, Berkeley promoted developing trade relations and peace with the Indians who lived on surrounding lands. Bacon, however, promoted running the Indians off their land to expand the colonial settlements. In defiance of Berkeley’s policies, Bacon independently organized and led poor farmers who lived on the outskirts of the colonies (most of whom were recently freed indentured servants), on murderous terror raids against nearby Indian communities. But instead of fleeing, the Natives responded with counter-raids against their attackers. Bacon, unable to match the Indian counter-attacks, sought but was denied military support from Berkeley.

Bacon then turned on the established colonial ruling class and Berkeley’s government. He armed and organized the colony’s Afrikan and English slaves with promises of freedom, and in 1676 led them in revolt against the colonial rulers. The revolt succeeded in overthrowing the colonial ruling class and government, and captured the capitol at Jamestown, Virginia.

Mohan Baidhya, popularly known as Comrade Kiran, is the senior vice chairman of ‘Unified ’ Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) . He has been contributing relentlessly for almost four decades as a professional revolutionary in developing the Maoist movement in Nepal. Since his early political life, he resolutely fought against revisionism, neo-revisionism, and all sorts of deviations within and outside of the Party. He is known as a revolutionary leader, a beloved leader of the oppressed Nepalese people and an outstanding leader of the international proletariat. The Indian expansionist ruling class put Comrade Kiran, in an Indian jail more than two years.

Here is the fresh interview given by Comrade 'Kiran' to the ‘The Next Front’. We all know, these days a fierce two line struggle is taking place within the Maoist movement in Nepal. This interview has focused on many burning issues running within UCPN–Maoist. )

Question: When is your central committee is going to meet? What was the reason for the delay of the central committee meeting?

Kiran: It would probably be convened soon. The delay was for homework.

Question: Has the issue related to army integration been finalized? It is said that you have also abandoned the earlier stance on army integration. What is the reality?

Kiran: The issue concerning the army integration has not been finalized. On this issue, we had registered our 'note of dissent' against the decision taken by majority in the meeting of the Standing Committee of the party. Similarly, we have differences on the decision taken by majority in the party's central office. We have not given up our position and stance and our position is consistent.

Question: The focal point of the two-line struggle should have basically been on strategic goal. Instead, given its nature, this seems to have been muddled up in the tactical questions and issues. Does it not weaken the struggle to be launched for achieving the main goal?

Kiran: The two-line struggle has basically been concentrated on strategic goal. On this issue, our dissenting opinions have been registered. These dissenting views are based on the issues concerning the use of terminology like 'Mao Thought' instead of 'Maoism'; objection to some key peace accords signed in the past; and issues related to the implementation of people's federal republic and insurrection. In addition, we have dissenting views on some other issues like the ones concerning the army integration and constitution. All these issues are of strategic importance. The disagreement on these issues cannot be called as mere 'differences on tactics'. Some of the differences on tactics are also related to strategy.

Question: The present dispute has been called as a two-line struggle but the differences and disputes seem to be on the question of who should be minister or on the issue of 'inclusiveness' like representing different ethnicities, regions and sex in the cabinet. Are we not being unnecessarily occupied in the issue like 'inclusiveness', which is against the basic Marxist principle, instead of focusing on class issues? What is the ground reality behind this?

Kiran: The dispute concerning ministers is linked with the political line. The dispute concerning inclusiveness and proportionate representation cannot be against Marxism. Marxism has been firmly resisting all kinds of patriarchal repressions on women and the so-called high caste domination on nationalities and has emphasized the necessity of empowering the entire oppressed people including women and nationalities. This struggle is also not outside the parameters of class struggle.

Question: The external and internal situation of the party has demanded a concrete and bold decision. The revolutionary line has not advanced in the way it should have done, which has given rise to impression that the party is going to be entrapped into the politics of compromise and a new type of eclecticism in the name of unity. Do you not think it is necessary to be cautious against the danger of being fallen into the trap of new type of eclecticism?

Kiran: Yes, this is true. The situation has definitely demanded a concrete and bold decision. But like the class struggle, the two-line struggle also does not advance in a straight line but faces many twists and turns. We have to correctly understand the direction of class struggle and the two-line struggle. So far as the question of compromise is concerned, this is not a new phenomenon but has been in practice for a long time. Compromise has to be made on certain occasions and there should not be any reason to doubt the intention. But we should not fall into the trap of politics of compromise. There is also a danger of eclecticism but it should be made clear that we have always been firmly resisting and fighting all kinds of eclecticism and revisionism and will continue to do so until our goal is achieved. We are fully conscious and cautious about this.

Question: Do you not think that the continuity of 'politics of note of dissent' for a long period is, in a way, tantamount to get the politics entrapped into compromise and inaction?

Kiran: Its answer has already been given in the previous answer.

Question: The general convention of the party is a good aspect. Does it not create the situation to keep the problem unresolved for a long time and push the politics towards directionless confusion. What do you say?

Kiran: The general convention of the party is a must. But I don't think that all the questions that have been raised now would be resolved in the general convention. Clarity on some issues of ideological and political importance is necessary prior to the convention.

Question: The world has been keenly and seriously watching the revolutionary line of the Maoist party. Supporters of proletariats all over the world are also watching it and the reactionaries, too, are doing the same. What is your reaction?

Kiran: We have taken optimism and expectations of proletariats in the world very positively while the reactionary outlook is negative in our eyes. I assure you that we will never let down Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, revolution and communism. We will further develop it to a greater height one after another.

Question: Efforts have been made to constitute a new RIM and once again advance the Maoist movement in a new way. What can be and should be the role of revolutionaries in this context?

Kiran: We are positive on the formation of a new RIM.

Question: History has proved that nowhere in the world has the revolution been completed without breaking the relationship with opportunists. A trend has developed in the party to make decisions like the ones made in Kharipati and Palungtar but not to implement them in practice, which has been repeated in series. In such a situation, what are the actions to be taken by the revolutionaries? Can you specify on point wise basis?

Kiran: We are serious on this issue. In this connection, we have to pay special attention to creating appropriate ground in favour of revolutionary ideology and political line, exposing opportunism, properly disseminating information to the people on issues of crucial political importance; and rebelling against the party if it deviates from the basic principles. But, in addition to this, we must seriously give consideration to the issues concerning unity, struggle and transformation.

Question: How can you instill revolutionary optimism in the mind of cadres who have less questions and doubts but more expectations from the party? What are their bases and what is the guarantee that the same old story would not be repeated?

Kiran: What we want to assure the revolutionary cadres and the people is that we in the past had firmly launched ideological struggle against all types of revisionism and have been doing the same even today. We have been expressing our commitment towards the country, people and revolution by our practical activities of class struggle and two-line struggle. Thus, practice is the basis of solution to doubt and trust, for which we must be clear.
July 4, 2011

The following is the text of a speech given in London on June 12, 2011 by Jan Myrdal at a public meeting of International Campaign Against War on the People in India. It is a fairly comprehensive and accurate account of the situation in India and the response of the western press -Ed.

We here at this meeting know - or at least have heard - that the organizers of this meeting are right; there is an ongoing war against the people in India. The very fact that we are here shows that we consider it necessary to organize an international defense for the rights of the peoples of India.

Here I will take up some questions concerning this urgently needed solidarity. I will try to discuss them one by one.

As I had come back from the guerrilla zone in Dandakaranya and was writing about the visit and the discussions I had there this time with the General Secretary and other responsible political and military cadres from the Communist Party of India (Maoist), I could read in Hindustan Times for July 4th 2010:

“INDIA’S INSURGENCY BATTLE

In a country where one in five people live under the shadow of insurgency, it is a battle far tougher than Kashmir or Iraq or Afghanistan. India’s richest lands, home to its poorest people, are set to become the country’s main theatre of conflict in a massive new push against Maoist rebels over the next five years and beyond, in impossible terrain and in impossible conditions.

India has finally decided to take the 42-year-old insurgency head-on. In terms of scale and terrain, it is set to be one of the world’s toughest battles against insurgency. The main battleground, Chhattisgarh’s remote, deeply forested Bastar region - home to some of the world’s best iron ore - is ten times the size of Kashmir Valley and has vast swathes under the domination of the rebels for at least two decades.”

UCPN (Maoist) Central Committee (CC) meeting, which had been deferred many times in the past citing lack of enough home work of party leadership, convened at the party headquarters at Parisdanda on Sunday.

The meeting concluded shortly after party chairman Prachanda presented his much anticipated political dossier for endorsement in the CC meet. The meeting which is facing many setbacks has again been called on Monday.

It has been learnt that the rift among party’s top leadership – Prachanda and vice chairmen duo Mohan Baidya and Baburam Bhattarai - that has virtually driven the party to a brink of a split was also discussed during today’s meeting.

In his political dossier, Prachanda is learnt to have renewed his readiness to assign responsibilities to all leaders. Although Prachanda is all set to propose the name of Bhattarai as the party’s candidate for the post of prime minister in the next government, he has stopped short of changing the Parliamentary Party Leader, a position he retains.

Democracy and Class Struggle welcomes the Guardian Newspapers exposure of the Evil Empire of Rupert Murdoch.Nick Davies and Alan Rushbridger of the Guardian through their journalism have laid low this "Voldemort" of the Media World - Rupert Murdoch.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Rahul Pandita’s “Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India’s Maoist Movement,” looks at the evolution of the rebel group over the past ten years from a ground-level perspective. The book is the latest account of a movement that the Indian government sees as one of the greatest threats to national security. The focus is on Bastar, a region in India’s state of Chhattisgarh that has become the center stage of the struggle between the government and Maoist rebels. India Real Time talked to Mr. Pandita, a reporter at Open magazine, ahead of the book’s formal launch Thursday.

——- Edited excerpts ———

IRT: What major changes have you noticed in the Maoist rebellion between 1998, when you started covering it, and today?

Mr. Pandita: I think it has increased from strength to strength. They have expanded. Now they have a very well-trained and highly motivated army of over 10,000 men and women called the PLGA, the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army. Apart from these soldiers, they also have a secondary or “base” force. Some of them carry rudimentary weapons, and others traditional weapons like bows and arrows. In Dantewada [a district in Chhattisgarh], last year, for example, they ambushed a patrol party in which 75 policemen were killed. There were about 200 Maoists attacking. In a typical formation of 200 Maoists, about 60-70 would be hardcore soldiers from the PLGA; the rest of them will be from the secondary force. Once the CRPF personnel or soldiers are dominated, they will go and snatch weapons. So in terms of weapons, in terms of training and in terms of overall expansion, they have gained a lot.

IRT: The Supreme Court recently ruled that the state of Chhattisgarh has to stop using young tribal villagers as ad hoc police officers, known as Special Police Officers, in its fight against the Maoist movement. What impact do you think the court’s order will have on the government’s ability to quell the Maoist insurgency?

Mr. Pandita: It’s a very tricky question. It’s not a black and white situation, there are shades of grey, obviously. There are about 40,000 SPOs all over India. These are ordinary tribals between the ages of 18 and 25. They have been very poorly trained and they get a stipend of 3,000 rupees every month. They lead a police party to some villages where a lot of atrocities, a lot of human rights violations take place. In March this year, when these SPOs entered three villages of Dantewada, they burnt to ashes hundreds of huts, killed three civilians and sexually assaulted three women. After the Supreme Court order, these guys will have to be disarmed. Once they are disarmed, the state will have no policy on how to deal with them, on how to rehabilitate them. So they are virtually at the mercy of the Maoists. Once they go back to their villages, they risk being slaughtered. The responsibility now lies with the government to make sure that these SPOs are rehabilitated some way or another.

As far as their not being on the ground to assist regular police, I think to some extend it will affect anti-Maoist operations. That’s because an ordinary CRPF soldier [Central Reserve Police Force, typically deployed in insurgency-hit areas] who is coming from outside, has really no idea about the terrain. The motivation level is absolutely zero as opposed to a Maoist guerilla soldier who knows that area and the terrain like the back of his hand.

IRT: Why did the Maoists choose Bastar as the epicenter of their movement?

Mr. Pandita: They had a senior Maoist leader called Kondapalli Seetharamaiah who is a founder of what was then [in the early 1980s] known as the People’s War Group, which merged with another group called Maoist Communist Centre in 2004 to form what is now known as the CPI (Maoist). Kondapalli Seetharamaiah’s daughter and son-in-law were doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and they used to occasionally travel to Bastar to treat patients. They told Kondapalli Seetharamaiah about this area and that’s when it struck him that it could become an ideal base thanks to the thick jungle cover. If you are not familiar with the terrain, you will be lost. And it was very close to the state of Andhra Pradesh, which is where Kondapalli Seetharamaiah was from.

IRT: You met senior Maoist leaders including their head, Muppalla Lakshmana Rao, better known as Ganapathy, while you were writing the book. How was your interaction with him?

Mr. Pandita: Ganapathy is a very charismatic leader. He is from Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, from a village called Beerpur. He holds a degree in science and another in education. He was a science teacher before he became involved with the movement. He was a very close associate of Kondapalli Seetharamaiah. I had a very brief chance to meet him and it happened by accident. I was traveling in that area and it so happened that he was also traveling there. I had to walk for days before I got to meet him. We had a meeting that lasted just a few hours. His core vision is to bring about a revolution and to create a state within the state.

IRT: What do you think is the best way for the Indian government to deal with the Maoist movement?

Mr. Pandita: It took many many years for the government of India to very reluctantly accept the fact that the Maoist insurgency is not just a law and order problem but a socio-economic concern. But while on the one hand they have accepted it, on the ground nothing has changed. The answer is to promote development. If the government thinks that it can be controlled by sheer force, by putting a hundred thousand men on the ground, this problem will never go away – even if the whole Maoist leadership is eliminated. It’s an issue that concerns the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

IRT: What’s the future of the Maoist movement in India?

Mr. Pandita: I think it’s going to expand because of the kind of policies we have in these areas. On one hand, you have hundrends of thousands of tons of wheat and other food grains rotting in government godowns. As long as people keep on dying of hunger, as long as their lands are taken away, as long as they are displaced and their lives are destroyed; it’s only going to expand.

"Never buy the Sun". Written Friday night, played live Saturday night - he certainly doesn't hang about. He's posted a video clip of him singing it in his dressing room before the gig. The Sun is the lead title of Rupert Murdoch News International Newspapers in Britain.

Omar Barghouti is an independent Palestinian political and cultural analyst whose opinion columns have appeared in several publications. He is also a human rights activist involved in civil struggle to end oppression and conflict in Palestine. Barghouti is a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, PACBI.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

“The prisoners are progressing rapidly to the organ damaging consequences of dehydration. They are not drinking water and have decompensated rapidly. A few have tried to sip water but are so sick that they are vomiting it back up. Some are in renal failure and have been unable to make urine for 3 days. Some are having measured blood sugars in the 30 range, which can be fatal if not treated.“

The Mayor of London has again been accused of failing to ensure the Metropolitan Police investigated the phone hacking scandal properly.

Boris Johnson chose not to pursue a prosecution against the News of the World in 2006 even though his own phone had been hacked - a decision he strongly defended when questioned about it on Wednesday at City Hall.

Almost 4,000 people are still due to be contacted by police investigating the phone hacking scandal surrounding News of The World, the officer in charge of the police investigation has said.

Sue Akers, the deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and head of Operation Weeting, told the Home Affairs Select committee on Tuesday

On June 30, 2011, hundreds of California prisoners at the Pelican Bay State Prison launched a hunger strike against tortuous conditions for years, even decades-long solitary confinement. Within days, thousands of prisoners throughout the state joined the strike. While the media routinely slammed the strike, discounting and minimizing it and slandering the prisoners as undeserving of their demands, public support has grown.

In this video, Manuel LaFontaine of the prisoner support group ALL OF US OR NONE, explains the significance of this historic struggle. When he spoke at a solidarity rally on July 9th, he had been fasting in solidarity with the hunger strike (since it began) for nine days.